It’s obvious now, if it wasn’t in 1996, that Bill Clinton didn’t believe in the Defense of Marriage Act when he signed it. As law, it’s divisive and awful — as much then as today.

Most assume Clinton bowed to political pressures in the heat of his presidential re-election fight with Republican Sen. Bob Dole.

In a Washington Post op-ed Friday, Clinton repeated his regret for signing the law, which denies federal marriage benefits to same-sex couples. But now, he says, he also believes the law is unconstitutional, and urged the U.S. Supreme Court to strike it down when it hears the case later this month.

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Clinton deserves to answer for his signature. But the ’96 race was tight. He had the support of the gay community, but nationally, same-sex marriage had only 27 percent support. And had Clinton vetoed DOMA, Congress would have overridden him anyway.

What if Clinton gambled and lost? A former adviser, Richard Socarides, wrote in the New Yorker that none of Clinton’s pro-gay initiatives — protections from hate crimes and workplace discrimination, openly gay administration appointees, increased AIDS funding — would have happened under President Dole.

Today, it’s one of the great sea changes of our time that Democrats score points on this issue. It’s a greater wonder that more Republicans — including Gov. Chris Christie, who vetoed gay marriage in New Jersey — aren’t more attuned to history’s course.

From Clinton’s op-ed: “Americans have been at this sort of a crossroads often enough to recognize the right path.”